READING THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

PART II

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Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-2:24

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1:1-5 addresses rulers–not just Jewish 0nes, but mainly Gentiles.  Recall, O reader, that Pseudo-Solomon cast a broad net and sought to appeal to as many people as possible by fusing Judaism and Platonism in a Hellenistic context.  (FYI:  Platonism, influential in Christianity since the earliest years of Christianity, is less influential in Christianity than it used to be.  History tells us that Sts. Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas helped to raise the profile of Aristotle and his philosophy in Christianity in the Middle Ages.)  Based on 1:1, what does Pseudo-Solomon encourage those in authority to love?  My survey of sixteen translations–fourteen in English ad two in French–indicates the following results:

1. Righteousness–seven translations,
2. Justice–seven translations,
3. Uprightness–one translation, and
4. Virtue–one translation.

The survey reveals a tie between righteousness and justice, terms where are interchangeable in the Bible.  Recall, O reader, that righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation.  Allowing for the separation of religion and state–which I, as a devout person and a student of history, favor–governments must still respect human rights and liberties, as well as live in harmony with nature.  They are failing.

The germane notes in The Jerusalem Bible (1966) and The New Jerusalem Bible (1985) define righteousness/justice slightly differently:

…perfect accord of mind and act with the divine will as manifested in the precepts of the Law and the injunctions of conscience.

That definition assumes that someone has a conscience, of course.  Some in positions of leadership are narcissistic, pathological predators devoid of a conscience.

For perverse thoughts separate men from God,

and when his power is tested, it convicts the foolish;

because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul,

nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin.

–Wisdom of Solomon 1:3-4, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

Historical accounts and current events confirm those words.

As we continue to read, we find that

…the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world….

–Wisdom of Solomon 1:7a, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

The Spirit of the Lord is impossible to avoid, we read.  It knows what people say, we read.  Furthermore, people doom themselves.  God, who does not delight in the death of the living, favors righteousness, which is immortal.  We also read all that through 1:15.

Yet godless/ungodly people–the fools/benighted men of Psalms 14 and 53–summon death upon themselves.  Their atheism, in context, is practical atheism; they reject divine interest in human activities, as well as any divine retribution.  They sound like Ecclesiastes minus the piety.  They lack all compunction against oppressing people–a violation of Biblical mutuality.  They know that they are predators, and target the inconvenient, righteous people.  These godless/ungodly people lack a conscience.  They even martyr some of these righteous people.  The wickedness of these godless/ungodly people blinds them morally.

To come full circle, 1:1-5 tells rulers not to be like that.  No, those in authority should feel ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness/injustice.

I choose my words carefully in these weblogs, for i seek to make my meaning plain.  However, even the plainest and most direct language cannot prevent all misunderstandings.  Nevertheless, I continue to try to be clear without attaching a lengthy disclaimer to every blog post.  Such a disclaimer would be ridiculous and not worth my time and effort.

With all that in mind, I state that people of good conscience may disagree about whether a given policy is just or unjust.  Some people are bound to be mistaken, and all of us possess moral blind spots.  Yet an evidence-based person with a conscience may admit error in the pursuit of righteousness/justice.  And such a person may change his or her mind regarding a given policy.  Results matter.  I, as one trained in historical methodology, affirm that evidence and objective reality matter.  I reserve my harshest condemnations for those who do not care about righteousness/justice.  I summon my fiercest moral outrage and tear into those who lack a sense of morality.  Their tribe is legion, unfortunately.  To paraphrase Jon Stewart, a shameless person commits the most shameful deeds.

Chapter 2 concludes with a bridge into chapter 3.  That bridge reads, in part:

…for God created man for incorruption,

and made him in the image of his own eternity,

but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,

and those who belong to his party experience it.

–Wisdom of Solomon 2:23-24, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

The alternative translations of God’s “eternity” are “nature” and “likeness.”  This definition fits with “eternal life” in the Gospel of John, where “eternal life” pertains to the nature of God and has no relation to time.  In the Johannine tradition, “eternal life” is knowing God via Jesus.  So, eternal life begins in this life and continues in the afterlife.  Elsewhere in the New Testament, though, “eternal life” refers to the afterlife.  Regardless of the translator’s choice in Wisdom of Solomon 2:23-24, the meaning is that God created people for immortality yet they are not immortal.  Human ethical conduct–defined by righteousness/justice–is full life in God.  The opposite–“death”–is total separation from God and virtue.

In the arena of the history of theology, I note that, by the time of the composition of the Wisdom of Solomon, the influence of Zoroastrianism upon Judaism had reached full flower.  Chapter 2 indicates that “the Satan” has completed his transformation from a loyal servant of God (as in Numbers 24) into a rogue.  This chapter, combined with the previous one and the next one, also affirms reward and punishment in the afterlife.  Sheol is out; divine retribution in the afterlife is in.

The history of theological development is a matter of evidence–written evidence, especially.  One can state objectively that theology has changed.  This fact upsets some people; I know this, based on their reactions to me after I have explained this.  Yet this fact need not upset anyone, unless objective reality upsets that person.  The truth of theology at any given stage of its development is not so easy to settle, however.  The question of theological truth–insofar as fact checks can neither confirm nor refute them–resides in the realm of faith.  Fact checks aside, history cannot evaluate many claims of faith.

Now I move into that realm of faith.  I step outside the territory of fact checks.  I hold that, by the time of the composition of the Wisdom of Solomon, Jewish theology had made strides in the direction of understanding Satan and divine reward and punishment in the afterlife correctly.  I agree that God condemns nobody to Hell; people condemn themselves.  Yet the story of Jesus preaching in Hades/Hell between the crucifixion and the Resurrection sticks in my mind.  What was the point of such preaching if damnation is necessarily permanent? So, I also affirm that those in Hell can still find salvation if they will accept it.  They can still go to Heaven if wickedness ceases to blind and bind them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORG WEISSEL, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ANNA BERNADINE DOROTHY HOPPE, U.S. LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF CARROLL O’CONNOR, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC ACTOR AND SCREEN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED GEBBARD, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND MUSIC EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, ENGLISH MORAVIAN BISHOP, LITURGIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER JULIAN EYMARD, FOUNDER OF THE PRIESTS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, THE SERVANTS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, AND THE PRIESTS’ EUCHARISTIC LEAGUE; AND ORGANIZER OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

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READING 1, 2 AND 4 MACCABEES

Above:  Zeno of Citium

Image in the Public Domain

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PART IV

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4 Maccabees 1:1-3:18; 13:1-14:10; 18:20-24

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The Fourth Book of the Maccabees, composed in 20-54 C.E., perhaps in Antioch, is a treatise.  It interprets Judaism in terms of Greek philosophy–Stoicism and Platonism, to be precise.  4 Maccabees elaborates on the story of the martyrdom of the seven brothers and their mother, covered relatively succinctly in 2 Maccabees 7:1-42, and set prior to the Hasmonean Rebellion.

Fourth Maccabees, composed by an anonymous Hellenistic Jew and addressed to other Hellenistic Jews, has two purposes:

1. To exhort them to obey the Law of Moses (18:1), and
2. To proclaim that devout reason is the master of all emotions (1:1-2; 18:2).

Cultural assimilation was a common temptation for Hellenistic Jews.  “Keep the faith,” the author urged more verbosely than my paraphrase.  For him, devout reason was a reason informed by the Law of Moses.  Devout reason, in the author’s mind, the highest form of reason was the sole province of faithful Jews.

Vicarious suffering is also a theme in 4 Maccabees.  In this book, the suffering and death of the martyrs purifies the land (1:11; 6:29; 17:21), vindicates the Jewish nation (17:10), and atones for the sins of the people (6:29; 17:22).  The last point presages Penal Substitutionary Atonement, one of several Christian theologies of the atonement via Jesus.

The blending of Jewish religion and Greek philosophy is evident also in the treatment of the afterlife.  The Second Book of the Maccabees teaches bodily resurrection (7:9, 11, 14, 23, and 29).  One can find bodily resurrection elsewhere in Jewish writings (Daniel 12:2; 1 Enoch 5:1-2; 4 Ezra/2 Esdras 7:42; 2 Baruch 50:2-3).  The Fourth Book of the Maccabees, however, similar to the Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-4, teaches instant immortality, with reward or punishment.  The martyrs achieve instant instant immortality with reward (4 Maccabees 9:9, 22; 10:15; 14:15; 15:7; 16:13, 25; 17:12, 18; 18:23).  Antiochus IV Epiphanes, however, goes to everlasting torment (9:9, 29, 32; 10:11, 15; 11:3, 23; 12:18; 18:5).

Stoicism, in the Greek philosophical sense, has a different meaning than the average layperson may assume.  It is not holding one’s feelings inside oneself.  Properly, Stoicism teaches that virtue is the only god and vice is the only evil.  The wise are indifferent to pain and pleasure, to wealth and poverty, and to success and misfortune.  A Stoic, accepting that he or she could change x, y, and z, yet not t, u, and v.  No, a Stoic works to change x, y, and z.  A Stoic, therefore, is content in the midst of difficulty.  If this sounds familiar, O reader, you may be thinking of St. Paul the Apostle being content in pleasant and in unpleasant circumstances (Philippians 4:11-12).

Stoicism shows up elsewhere in the New Testament and in early Christianity, too.  It is in the mouth of St. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:28).  Stoicism is also evident in the writings of St. Ambrose of Milan (337-397), mentor of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430).  Why would it not be in the writings of St. Ambrose?  Greek philosophy informed the development of early Christian theology.  Greek philosophy continues to exist in sermons, Sunday School lessons, and Biblical commentaries.  Greek philosophy permeates the Gospel of John and the Letter to the Hebrews.  Greek philosophy is part of the Christian patrimony.

Platonism was the favorite form of Greek philosophy in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries.  Platonism permeated the works of St. Clement of Alexandria (circa 150-circa 210/215) and his star pupil, Origen (185-254), for example.  Eventually, though, St. Albert the Great (circa 1200-1280) and his star pupil, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), successfully made the case for Aristotle over Plato.  Holy Mother Church changed her mind after the deaths of Sts. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. The Church, having embraced Aristotle over Plato, eventually rescinded the pre-Congregation canonization of St. Clement of Alexandria.  And the Church has never canonized Origen.  I have, however, read news stories of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland trying to convince The Episcopal Church to add Origen to the calendar of saints.  (The Episcopal Church already recognizes St. Clement of Alexandria as a saint.)

Platonism and Stoicism have four cardinal virtues–rational judgment, self-control, justice, and courage.  These appear in 4 Maccabees 1:2-4.  As I read these verses, I recognize merit in them.  Some emotions do hinder self-control.  Other emotions to work for injustice and obstruct courage.  News reports provide daily documentation of this.  Other emotions further the causes of justice and courage.  News reports also provide daily documentation of this.

I also affirm that reason should govern emotions.  I cite news stories about irrationality.  Emotions need borders, and must submit to objectivity and reason, for the best results.

4 Maccabees takes the reader on a grand tour of the Hebrew Bible to support this conclusion.  One reads, for example, of Joseph (Genesis 39:7-12; 4 Maccabees 2:1-6), Simeon and Levi (Genesis 49:7; 4 Maccabees 2:19-20), Moses (Numbers 16:1-35; Sirach 45:18; 4 Maccabees 2:17), David (2 Samuel 23:13-17; 1 Chronicles 11:15-19; 4 Maccabees 3:6-18).

Reason can effect self-control, which works for higher purposes.  One of these higher purposes is

the affection of brotherhood.

–4 Maccabees 13:19, Revised Standard Version–Second Edition (1971)

In the case of the seven martyred brothers, as the author of 4 Maccabees told their story, these holy martyrs used rational judgment and self-control to remain firm in their faith.  Those brothers did not

fear him who thinks he is killing us….

–4 Maccabees 13:14, Revised Standard Version–Second Edition (1971)

That is the same courage and conviction present in Christian martyrs, from antiquity to the present day.

One may think of another passage:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

–Matthew 10:28, Revised Standard Version–Second Edition (1971)

Not surprisingly, many persecuted Christians derived much comfort and encouragement from 4 Maccabees.  These Christians had to rely on each other, just as the seven brothers did in 4 Maccabees.

Mutuality is a virtue in the Law of Moses and in Christianity.

I have spent the first four posts in this series laying the groundwork for the First, Second, and Fourth Books of Maccabees.  I have provided introductory material for these books.

Next, I will start the narrative countdown to the Hasmonean Rebellion.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 4, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CORNELIUS THE CENTURION

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